Industry overview
What is shaping petroleum, oil & gas
Oil marketing companies, lubricant brands and city gas distributors compete on forecourt experience, product trust and mechanic recommendations.
- Forecourt experience shapes fuel brand loyalty
- Mechanics drive lubricant brand choice
- City gas adoption depends on safety confidence and convenience
Client background
An oil marketing company, working in 400 fuel stations in 60 cities. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- An oil marketing company
- Sector
- Petroleum, oil & gas
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Offline data collection, Data analytics & dashboards, Reporting & insights
Client challenge
The company had introduced service standards for its fuel stations, covering fuel quantity checks, cleanliness, washroom availability and staff courtesy, but had no independent way to know whether dealers followed them. Customer complaints about short-filling and dirty washrooms were rising on social media.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: mystery shopping a national fuel retail network.
- Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
- Set up a repeatable measure the client can track over time.
Target audience
Scope: 1,200 visits per wave.
Audiences we typically reach in petroleum, oil & gas
Fuel customersForecourt staff and dealersMechanics and workshopsFleet ownersCity gas customers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: 400 fuel stations in 60 cities. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.
- 1Brief
- 2Mystery customer visits
- 3Station scorecards
- 4Insight
Trained mystery customers visited stations by car and two-wheeler at different times of day, following a consistent script to observe zero display checks, payment options, washroom cleanliness, air and water facilities and staff behaviour. Each visit was photo-documented, and results were shared with regional managers as station scorecards with comparisons over time.
Offline data collectionData analytics & dashboardsReporting & insights
Sampling strategy
- Respondents were selected across 400 fuel stations in 60 cities using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
Data collection
- visits
- 1,200
- Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
- Auditors and mystery shoppers followed a standard checklist, recording evidence at each visit.
Data quality & validation
- Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
- Time and location checks on field interviews
- Supervisor accompaniment in the field
- Photo or document evidence for audit points
- Second-reviewer checks on scores
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking
Key findings
- Washroom availability and zero-display practices varied widely, with night-time visits scoring lowest.
Visiting at different times of day revealed standards slipping when supervision was lowest.
Recommendations
- The company linked part of dealer incentives to scorecard performance and introduced surprise audits for consistently low scorers.
- Share the findings with the teams closest to customers so they can act quickly.
What we recommended, and the client put into practice
Business impact
- Scores improved across the network over the following quarters.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interactive dashboard
- Continue the routine and review results every period.
- A natural follow-on question: which lubricant brands do mechanics push?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.